


Best Kept Secret

by Pookaseraph



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Babysitting, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tendo Choi wasn't going to let anyone know how he kept his supply of good coffee flowing, or that Hermann and Newt were the best damn babysitters in the Shatterdome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Kept Secret

**Author's Note:**

> For Jennapants on Tumblr who asked me for: "Gosh I would love to see Herman and Newt with a kid, like a toddler or primary school age, either baby sitting or their own little mini mad scientist!!!"
> 
> Sorta set in the same 'verse as 'Spiral Down, Come Together' but entirely not necessary to understand this one.

There were two deep, dark secret, that Tendo Choi shared with EXACTLY NO ONE: where and how he was able to get the good coffee, and that Newt and Hermann were really competent babysitters. _Really_ competent. With the Breach closed, his wife, Alison and their son, Gabe, were relocating to the newly re-funded PPDC (slash German asshole scientist think tank), but there were far too many details for her to just pack up and come. She would be relocating to Hong Kong in a few months, but for now they had to settle for a week here and there. He was a busy father, and during the quiet moments that existed now that things weren't as desperate, he had no desire to give up what Newt called 'mommy-daddy time' and Hermann gave a pinched look to and didn't call anything at all.

He knew his secret was safe, largely because no one in their right mind would think that the two of them were good with children, much less in the presence of each other, but they were surprisingly good about it. Dr. Gottlieb had two younger siblings, and Newt was just a big kid himself, but the two of them in concert were incredible. He and Alison took a moment to themselves, and he showed her the changes to the post-Breach 'dome before the two of them retired to his quarters. They spent a few hours reconnecting and being reminded why they loved each other, and then had a shower before returning to the old K-Science lab - now the main offices of a much larger research division.

Tendo found the K-Science boys, Hermann with an arm wrapped tightly around Gabe's waist with his left arm, holding the boy in place on his thigh, his right hand making notations in a journal. Newt had some cell cultures or... something... Kaiju specimens that were bright and colorfully dyed projected up onto one of their screens. He and Ali took a moment to watch, rather than interrupt the tableau.

Newt had taken the opportunity to lecture Gabe in the finer points of cell biology. "And _this_ is the cell membrane, you can see the edges, here... you only get that in silicates - kaiju, skin parasites, some of the plant matter we occasionally pull off of them - and look at that chemical composition..." Newt pressed a few buttons, glancing back at the screen. "It's..."

Newt rolled away, over to one of the other consoles where he punched a few more buttons.

"Really cool, right?"

That was when Tendo realized the man was doing actual work, that the cell culture wasn't only for his son's benefit, and he felt even more wise to have stayed quiet. 

Hermann distracted Gabe with wiggled fingers, still leaning over his book, scribbling furiously. "Biological specimens, so unpredictable," Hermann sniped

"Biaaaa--"

Hermann made an acknowledging 'hmmm' at Gabe, before he glanced up. "Newton."

"Science," Newt answered. "One minute."

Tendo had no doubt that if he'd timed it it would have come down to the second. "Newton!"

Newt pressed a few final buttons before glancing over.

"Biological containment leaks are your specialization," Hermann answered, holding Tendo's son aloft, and Tendo almost snorted in response, but kept quiet along the entrance to the lab.

"Pants integrity?" Newt asked, giving his hands a scrub in one of the sinks before he came over and scooped up the kid and gave a glance down at Hermann's pants. "Nah, we're good. Come on, buddy, airplane."

"Only you would think a child with soiled undergarments was an appropriate item to hold aloft over one's head."

"Don't listen to him, he's just cranky he can't Play Scientist right now," Newt answered, bringing Tendo's son over to one of the lab benches, and then deftly pulling out a lab bench protector and then set his son atop it.

Newt was, actually, a master, and had all of the appropriate supplies on hand - in the diaper bag that Alison had brought - and had his son wiped down, patted dry, and re-diapered in a matter of a few seconds, before returning his son to Hermann, heading over to the mess sink and dealing with the diaper leavings.

"What were you ' _sciencing'_ , Newton?" Hermann asked as Newt worked.

"Oh, just had a new theory for how to approach some genetic questions that I hadn't thought of before. Inspiration in strange places." Newt gave Hermann a warm smile over his shoulder.

"Doctors," Tendo said, clearing his throat to announce his presence. Their quietly observed interaction had gone on long enough, and Tendo was beginning to feel voyeuristic.

The two of them turned, and then his son turned, offering them an excited 'Dad!' and waving his arms at them. Tendo took the demand seriously, and came to pick his son up and spin him about. "What did you three get up to?"

The stream of babble came fast and furious, and Tendo nodded at all of the appropriate stopping points. Newt, he noticed, had cleaned his hands, and his arms were now wrapped across Hermann's chest, hugging him from behind while the man sat. Hermann sat, impassive as Newt wasn't even vaguely subtle about nuzzling the part in Hermann's hair, and then planting a soft kiss there as well.

That _wasn't_ one of Tendo's secrets - more something of an open secret - but he was glad to see that they were in one of their calms rather than the moments where they were at each other's throats. They fought like cats and dogs when they argued, and Tendo pretended not to hear the chatter that wondered if they made love the same way.

"Thank you for looking after him," Tendo said, giving his son a little juggle, setting him on his hip.

"Any time," Hermann answered.

"Good practice for the impending niece," Newt answered. "Karla Jr."

Hermann's sister's pregnancy was also well-know, although fairly difficult to hide at this point. She was six months along, and she and her husband had both relocated to the think tank that the PPDC had become in the wake of the Breach being closed. It was sickeningly domestic, and it wasn't the sort of thing that people expected of men like Hermann and Newt. Tendo thought that was ridiculous, though; both of them demanded being the best at what they did, and so if they undertook babysitting, they would, predictably, be excellent at it.

As he and Alison headed out, he thought he heard the continued conversation, soft, and almost certainly not for their ears.

"I want one," Newt said, voice surprisingly gentle.

Without really meaning to pry, he found himself listening for Hermann's response, which came a few moments later. "It's a child, not a puppy."

Alison - who was a better person than he would ever be - looped an arm through his and started to drag him away, the two of them heading down the corridor together. "They would make wonderful fathers."

"They would be _terrifying_ fathers," Tendo answered, trying to imagine the two of them dealing with a rambunctious child all the time. Besides, the pair were still in the honeymoon stage - Tendo still couldn't believe how long it had taken them to get together - and throwing a child into the mix would be ill-advised. "And wonderful." Even he could admit that those idiots would probably balance each other out... a little bit... for their kid's sake.


End file.
